u/voidwriter51

My book The Eternal Smile is out as an Amazon ebook right now if you don't know what it's about check out my profiles previous posts but right now there's a second book in the works right now to continue from The Eternal Smile and that book is called The Eternal Void and every few days I will be posting different excerpts from The Eternal Void so keep an eye out for them if your interested in The Eternal Smile your really going to like this one

The fire at Hartfield Academy killed twenty-two people.

For nearly fifty years, the town believed the nightmare ended there.

They were wrong.

When cemetery security guard Caleb Voss begins experiencing impossible dreams, strange marks, and visions of a smiling figure lurking beyond reality, he finds himself pulled into a mystery connected to the deadliest tragedy in Hartfield's history. His warnings are dismissed as delusion—until psychiatrist Marcus Reed begins experiencing the same horrors.

Joined by nurse Serah Collins, the three uncover a hidden world concealed behind a supernatural veil: a realm of endless hallways, forgotten memories, and something that has been waiting in the darkness since the night Hartfield Academy burned.

Their search for answers leads them to Elias Crowe, the drama teacher blamed for the infamous fire. But as the truth emerges, they discover a terrifying possibility.

Crowe was never the source of the nightmare.

He was guarding it.

As reality begins to fracture and the boundary between worlds collapses, Caleb, Marcus, and Serah must confront an ancient force hidden beyond the veil before it crosses into their world.

Because some horrors refuse to stay buried.

Some doors should never be opened.

And somewhere in the darkness, something is still watching.

​

Book releases on Amazon in 2 days

The three of them didn’t stop running until their lungs burned.

Only then did Marcus finally slow to a walk.

The hallway was gone.

The applause was gone.

The glowing smile had vanished into the darkness behind them.

For now.

Caleb leaned against a nearby wall, breathing heavily. Serah rested her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Nobody seemed eager to break the silence.

Finally, Serah straightened and looked at Marcus.

“Please tell me we actually got something out of that.”

Marcus frowned.

“What?”

Serah pointed directly at the object still tucked beneath his arm.

“The book.”

Marcus froze.

In all the chaos of escaping the auditorium, he had almost forgotten he was carrying it.

Slowly, he looked down.

The charred book sat firmly in his hands.

Blackened edges surrounded the cover. Burn marks crawled across the leather like veins. Yet somehow the thing remained perfectly intact.

Caleb stared at it.

“That’s the one from the office?”

Marcus nodded.

“Yeah.”

Serah folded her arms.

“Then let’s hope nearly getting murdered by a smiling nightmare was worth it.”

Marcus carefully turned the book over.

The cover was badly scorched, making most of the title impossible to read.

Most.

A few faded gold letters still remained beneath the soot.

Caleb leaned closer.

“What does it say?”

Marcus brushed away a layer of ash with his thumb.

The remaining letters slowly became visible.

His stomach tightened.

“No way…”

“What?” Serah asked.

Marcus looked up.

His face had gone pale.

The expression immediately worried both of them.

“Marcus?”

He swallowed.

Then quietly read the surviving words aloud.

“‘Elias Crowe.’”

​

The book will be published in 2 days on amazon

(Honest feedback helps)

By the time three o’clock finally arrived, Marcus couldn’t leave Hartfield Memorial Cemetery fast enough.

The second his shift officially ended, he locked the security shack, climbed into his car, and pulled away from the cemetery gates without looking back.

At least, that was what he told himself.

In reality, he checked the rearview mirror three separate times before the cemetery disappeared behind the trees.

The drive back to the motel felt strangely quiet.

The roads were empty at this hour. No other headlights. No pedestrians. No signs of life beyond the occasional streetlamp glowing weakly through the darkness.

Marcus gripped the steering wheel tightly.

His knuckles were white.

The events of the night replayed endlessly in his mind.

The applause.

The fog wall.

The dream.

The hallway.

The smile.

The voice.

“Another one.”

Marcus swallowed hard.

“What the hell are you?” he muttered to the empty car.

The darkness outside offered no answer.

A few minutes later, the familiar neon sign of the motel appeared through the night.

VACANCY.

The red letters buzzed softly as Marcus pulled into the parking lot.

Then the sign flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Marcus slowed the car.

The sign stabilized.

Then flickered again.

His stomach tightened.

“You’re tired,” he told himself immediately.

“That’s all.”

The sign remained steady after that.

​

The book is being published in 2 days on amazon

Rain continued tapping softly against the glass.

And slowly, exhaustion began pulling at him again.

It had been happening more often lately. The closer the anniversary of the fire got, the worse his sleep became. Some nights he barely rested at all. Other nights, sleep came down on him suddenly and violently, like falling underwater.

Caleb tried to fight it.

He sat forward.

Rubbed his face.

Turned the radio on low.

Static crackled through the speaker before fading into faint country music.

For a while, it worked.

Then his eyes started closing again.

Just for a second.

Just long enough.

The radio static stretched into a distant ringing sound.

The rain disappeared.

And suddenly—

Caleb was standing in the middle of downtown Hartfield.

He frowned immediately.

Something was wrong.

The streets were completely empty. No traffic. No lights inside the buildings. Fog rolled heavily through the town, thick enough to swallow entire streets whole. Storefront windows looked dark and abandoned, like nobody had lived there for years.

Even the air felt wrong.

Too still.

Too heavy.

Caleb slowly turned in place.

“Hello?”

His voice echoed farther than it should have.

No answer came back.

A nervous chill crawled up his spine.

“This isn’t real,” he whispered to himself. “I’m dreaming.”

But even saying the words didn’t make the place feel less real.

Then he saw it.

The hallway.

It stood directly in the center of the street where the old four-way intersection should have been.

A long hallway stretching endlessly into darkness.

Caleb froze.

“What the hell…”

The hallway looked old. Ancient. Water stains spread across faded wallpaper while sections of the ceiling sagged overhead. It looked less like part of a building and more like something forced into reality where it didn’t belong.

And somewhere deep inside the darkness—

Something smiled.

Two faint glowing eyes hovered above a thin pale grin.

No face.

No body.

Just eyes and teeth floating impossibly far away.

Caleb’s breathing slowed.

Every instinct told him to leave.

So he stepped backward.

Then another step.

But when he turned around—

The town was gone.

The hallway stretched behind him now too.

The entrance had vanished completely.

“No,” Caleb whispered, spinning around frantically. “No, no, no—”

The walls groaned softly around him.

Somewhere far ahead, something laughed quietly.

Caleb’s chest tightened.

“Okay,” he said shakily, trying to calm himself. “It’s a dream. Just a dream.”

But the air smelled real.

Old wood.

Mildew.

Smoke.

​

Book being published in two days im restarting my posting

Unfortunately there has been another delay for anyone who wanted to know the eternal smile will be out within the next two to three weeks while who ever wants to buy it waits there's another book I progress called the eternal void I'm not going into detail now but it will be out at the rate I'm writing within the next month to a month and a half after the eternal smile release

“Please tell me I’m dreaming,” Serah whispered.

Nobody answered.

Because all three of them knew the truth.

They were awake.

The realization settled heavily over the hallway.

Serah let out a shaky laugh that contained no humor whatsoever.

“Okay,” she said, forcing herself to speak. “Okay. Let’s think logically.”

Caleb slowly turned toward her.

“We got dragged through a wall of fog by invisible hands.”

“Yes.”

“We’re standing inside a hallway that’s somehow larger than the entire town.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a glowing smile staring at us from the dark.”

Serah opened her mouth.

Then closed it again.

“Okay,” she admitted. “Logic may be struggling right now.”

There was a delay on my self-publishing of the eternal smile but it would be published on Amazon by the end of next week

“You’re saying the thing in the hallway,” Marcus said slowly, “was him.”

Caleb hesitated.

Then corrected him.

“I’m saying the thing in the hallway knows him.”

Serah shook her head again, but this time it wasn’t as firm.

“That’s impossible.”

Marcus exhaled through his nose.

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s what I used to think too.”

The room fell into another heavy silence.

The photograph of Elias Crowe sat pinned at the center of everything—smiling the same way he had in 1977, smiling the same way something else had smiled through a security monitor decades later.

Nearly fifty years ago, a fire tore through Hartfield Academy during a school performance. Dozens of people died.

The man blamed for it was never found.

Most people have forgotten about Elias Crowe.

Caleb wishes he could.

When strange dreams begin pulling him toward a mystery buried beneath Hartfield Memorial Cemetery, Caleb finds himself caught in an investigation alongside Marcus and Serah. What starts as a search for answers soon leads them into a nightmare where familiar places become impossible, shadows seem to watch from the darkness, and some doors should never be opened.

As the three uncover pieces of Hartfield's forgotten past, they begin to realize the fire was only the beginning.

Because some stories don't end when the curtain falls.

And some things are still waiting in the dark.

The entrance had vanished completely.

“No,” Caleb whispered, spinning around frantically. “No, no, no—”

The walls groaned softly around him.

Somewhere far ahead, something laughed quietly.

Caleb’s chest tightened.

“Okay,” he said shakily, trying to calm himself. “It’s a dream. Just a dream.”

But the air smelled real.

Old wood.

Mildew.

Smoke.

Then he noticed the candle sitting on the floor ahead of him.

Small.

Unlit.

Waiting.

Caleb stared at it uneasily.

“Yeah,” he muttered nervously. “Because this isn’t creepy at all.”

He crouched slowly and reached toward it.

The instant his fingers touched the wax—

FWOOSH.

The candle burst to life.

Caleb jerked backward with a curse as warm light flooded outward around him, illuminating only a few feet in every direction. Beyond that small circle, the darkness remained untouched.

The flame flickered violently.

Like it was afraid.

Caleb swallowed hard and tightened his grip on the candle holder.

“Well,” he whispered, “guess I’m moving.”

His footsteps echoed endlessly as he walked deeper into the hallway.

The walls seemed longer now.

Tighter.

Occasionally the wallpaper twitched slightly, as though something underneath it was breathing. The deeper he walked, the more he noticed strange sounds echoing around him.

Soft whispering.

Distant laughter.

Faint applause.

Caleb stopped walking immediately.

The applause stopped too.

His pulse quickened.

“…Hello?”

Nothing answered.

He kept moving.

Minutes passed.

Or hours.

Time felt broken there.

Then suddenly—

CRASH!

A loud metallic bang exploded somewhere behind him.

Caleb spun around so fast the candle nearly fell from his hands.

The hallway behind him was empty.

At first.

Then the smile appeared.